…after watching a few and even knowing one of them, Paul Andersen, I was under the impression that most of these are classroom teachers. At least many of them are. So what's the problem? I get it, you're worried about Gates' vision of Khan but I think Khan himself argues against his work replacing teachers. I say, be wary of the business model approach but also let's stop crapping on people, teachers or not, who just want to share. If we keep this up, we're going to be discouraging new folks from sharing lest we check their credentials at the door.

These gurus are teachers and they're doing what many have us have been doing for years, sharing what they know. The fact that many of the things they're sharing are directly aligned with many curricula shouldn't make

Special ed in distress A few schools get it right, but complaints and lawsuits are mounting against a troubled program serving 7,000 Seattle students.

Formal complaints on behalf of the Seattle school district's 7,000 special-education students have doubled over the past two years. Parents, teachers and state officials blame a central administration they say has become indifferent to the long-troubled department.

Five years ago, a high-profile report found that Seattle's public-school district was decades behind the rest of the country in serving students with disabilities.

In response, then-Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson declared special education a major priority and announced sweeping changes.

Today, the problems are even worse.

Six special-education directors — and three superintendents — have served since that 2007 report, discombobulating a growing department that now serves more than 7,000 students, one-seventh of the district's overall enrollment.

The upheaval has spawned a culture of low expectations in which district officials seem to put avoiding lawsuits above engaging families, training staffers or educating children, according to dozens of parents, teachers, principals, advocates and experts.

James Baldwin said it best:

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP

Obama’s Best-Kept Secrets - NYTimes.com: Obama’s Best-Kept SecretsBy THOMAS L. FRIEDMANPublished: October 20, 2012 1 Comment - FACEBOOK - TWITTER - GOOGLE+ - E-MAIL - SHARE - PRINT - REPRINTS - ONE thing that has struck me about the debates so far is how littlePresident Obama has conveyed about what I think are his two most innovative domestic programs. While I don’t know how Obamacare will turn out, I’m certain that my two favorite Obama initiatives will be transformative. Enlarge This Image Oliver Munday His Race to the Top program in education has alrea...more »

Jersey Jazzman: What a Teachers Union Should Be: What a Teachers Union Should Be Given the last couple of days, I thought this would be appropriate. Here's Karen Lewis, President of the Chicago Teachers Union, talking to her members: God bless the teachers of Chicago's public schools.

A letter to Obama. « Fred Klonsky: A letter to Obama. by Fred Klonsky Education Historian Diane Ravitch called on us to write letters to President Obama on October 17th. *October 17, 2012* *President Barack Obama* *Dear Mr. Obama:* *I am a retired teacher and teacher librarian, a mother, and a grandmother. I have worked in education for forty years. I attended all public schools in Los Angeles and went on to a fine public university for both undergraduate and graduate school. I have seen our schools go from places of nurture and caring that provided every subject a child needs, to...more »

The Weekly Update: Gates’ test metric is imploding, disappearing students in El Paso, Pearson sells a blank art book and takes down 1.5M ed blogs. | Seattle Education: The Weekly Update: Gates’ test metric is imploding, disappearing students in El Paso, Pearson sells a blank art book and takes down 1.5M ed blogs. by seattleducation2011 Courtesy of EduShyster *The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed.* Let’s start with Bill Gates. Posting this article gives me great sadness. I feel no anger and frustration, just sorrow in regards to what Gates has wrought with h...more »

http://www.southbronxschool.com: Goodbye to PS 154 in The Bronx? by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher) Wow, I have been gone for some time now. According to SBSB records the last blog post was October 2. Unfortunately, I have been quite busy of late and have had a bad case of writer's block. But not to fear, as when the blog started back in 2008, I have recently been blessed with a whole slew of fresh material to blog about. For those haters of the blog and for those that need their SBSB fix, I and the Crack Team are back. So, what is new? My school, PS 154 in the Bronx has been...more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Is Creativity Antithetical to Common Core?: Is Creativity Antithetical to Common Core? by stlgretchen What is Cafe Communications? From "about us" on cafecommunications. eu: *In old times, one would have said: advertising.* *One and a half decade ago, professionals would have defined it as ATL, BTL and PR communication.* *Around the turn of the millennium, Café Group was founded to develop integrated communication solutions for its clients.* *Nowadays, all three definitions are still correct, but none of them describes the essence. *

What we need for real Teacher Leadership | Outside the Cave: What we need for real Teacher Leadership by Stephen Lazar Ariel Sacks (who taught one of my current students last year!) has a really insightful and accurate piece about what’s necessary for teacher leadership to take the next step over at Education Week (free registration required): Teaching students is the single most important thing that happens in education everyday. That is where teachers make their biggest impact. So a leadership opportunity must provide a compelling reason to step away from the classroom—even for ...more »

WHY DO PEOPLE GET ANGRY WHEN TEACHERS STAND UP FOR THEMSELVES ? « Teachers Fight Back: WHY DO PEOPLE GET ANGRY WHEN TEACHERS STAND UP FOR THEMSELVES ? by alkleen Now the Illinois Federation of Teachers has come under fire for demanding the resignation of Richard Ingram, the head of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement system. The state’s second largest teachers union became upset when Ingram talked about reining in the annual cost-of-living adjustments provided for retirees. Several journalists’ and some editorials in newspapers have bashed the Illinois Federation of Teachers for no...more »

Jersey Jazzman: More On the Newark Contract: More On the Newark Contract by Duke Lou Caruso makes a very good point about the tentative Newark teachers contract: This agreement exemplifies the power of philanthropic foundations which causes concerns of sustainability. The hope is that funds will continue to be available to payout incentive structures. The goodwill built into these new structures will erode if funding cannot be maintained. This agreement reflects though how philanthropic foundations have to power and ability to help provide incentives to produce less restrictive ...more »

Diane Ravitch's blog: What Does Tony Bennett (Not the Singer) Call “a Beautiful Day” by dianerav Read here to learn Indiana State Superintendent Tony Bennett’s description of “a beautiful day.” I can think of so many other ways to describe a beautiful day. I’m going out to take a walk and experience one of those beautiful days in Brooklyn. I want to forget about the Breaking News! VAM in Florida County is a Disaster by dianerav The Tampa Bay Times reports that teachers are baffled, confused, and outraged by their value-added ratings, which will determine their evaluation, their...more »

A College History Class About Video Games? Sign Me Up. | toteachornototeach: A College History Class About Video Games? Sign Me Up. by aristotlethewise *A College History Class About Video Games? Sign Me Up.* History buffs who enjoy video games may want to enroll at the *University of South Carolina* and sign up for the “*Computer Games and History*” course scheduled for the spring 2013 semester. Associate Professor Joseph November is running a class in which students play, and discuss, games like Company of Heroes, the Total War series, Civilization and Age of Empires. The undergra...more »

Feeling Better on the Public’s Dime « PWC Education Reform Blog: Feeling Better on the Public’s Dime by pwceducationreform With 30 – 38 children in each classroom, paper being rationed in some schools, and band instruments no longer being repaired, why is PWCS spending money to produce videos designed to demonstrate the value of the World-Class education it provides? At the October 17 2012 school board meeting Superintendent Walts announced that PWCS would be posting a series of public service announcements called “Look at Us Now!” which will profile graduates of PWCS and the succ...more »

New Policy: Bonuses unless we get caught - Wait, What?: New Policy: Bonuses unless we get caught by jonpelto According to a Hartford Courant article by written by reporter Vanessa De la Torree, Christina Kishimoto, Hartford’s Superintendent of School, decided to rescind $38,976 in performance bonuses to six of her top deputies earlier this week. The action came after the Hartford Board of Education announced that it would be discussing the matter at their board meeting. Apparently the Hartford Board of Education voted, last year, to prohibit performance bonuses for senior staff....more »

Jersey Jazzman: Democracy: Only For The RIGHT Kind Of People: Democracy: Only For The RIGHT Kind Of People by Duke New Jersey Senator Ron Rice is a true patriot: Paterson would gain control of its public school system for the first time in 21 years under legislation introduced by Democrats that also would limit future state takeovers to five years, lawmakers announced Friday. "*It's time for the state to admit that the prolonged takeover of a local school district is a failed experiment, and it's time to return the school districts that have languished under state control back to ...more »

Seattle Schools Community Forum: *Let's start this conversation about BEX (again). * I like the BEX staff that I know. They are bright and hard-working. A few of the very problematic people are gone and that is truly a good thing. That said, I have never been confident in the choices that the BEX staff has made over the years. Here are my problems with how BEX staff works. One, there never seems, despite their use of the word "scenarios", any real evidence that you see them saying "if A, then, B but what about this ripple to C". *No school is an island and there are ramif...more »

School Tech Connect: Our Topsy-Turvy State: Our Topsy-Turvy State by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman) The constitutional amendment notice language on all Illinois ballots next month *is *deceptive, and is *should* be invalidated by the courts. Plus the amendment itself is just a stupid thing to tack onto the constitution. It adds a whole new dimension of murky to an otherwise clear document. I was going to add links but I noticed that state's online constitution links are down at the moment. And I can't say that I blame whoever has taken down the constitution. If I were trying ...more »

Teacher Leaders: Puppets or Powerful? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: Teacher Leaders: Puppets or Powerful? by Anthony Cody New York teacher Ariel Sacks this week pointed out some of the challenges faced by teachers who wish to exercise leadership beyond their classrooms. In this essay, Beyond Tokenism: Toward the Next Stage of Teacher Leadership, Sacks points out some of the pitfalls she has experienced. These include finding one's voice used to advance someone else's agenda, making one into a "mouthpiece," rather than a true leader. Another is be used as a token ...more »

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky: Saturday coffee. by Fred Klonsky This is our last weekend across the Lake. Our timing could not have been more perfect. We have watched the Fall colors in their full cycle from green to brilliant red and orange. We have driven up and down the west coast of Michigan up as far as Holland. If Romney is going to take Michigan’s electoral votes (which he is not expected to do) it won’t be from voters here. Not if lawn signs tell the story. The other take away from being here is that our cable TV gets Michigan, Indiana and Illinois stations. It’s been ...more »

An Open Letter on the 2012 Election to Anxious Liberals With Radical Friends « Student Activism: An Open Letter on the 2012 Election to Anxious Liberals With Radical Friends by Angus Johnston If you’re a liberal trying to consider a radical friend to vote to save Obama, consider this… There are only eight states where voting for president matters this year. If your friend doesn’t live in one of them, chill out. Have the discussion if you like, but don’t get angry. Voting for president in a safe state is a purely symbolic act, and life’s too short to damage friendships over acts o...more »

Russo pontificates against Ravitch - Substance News: MEDIA WATCH: Russo, from his blogtification pulpit in Brooklyn, knocks Diane Ravitch as the whining continues at 'District299.com'... George N. Schmidt - October 19, 2012 One of the secret pleasures of some Chicago teachers and reporters is regularly reading "District299.com" to see how off base Brooklyn's finest Chicago reporter can get. Alexander Russo might be the most self-important blogster to pontificate (it's a practice called "blogtification", a combination of blogging and pontificating) on Chicago, but even for him it'...more »

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] The Campaign for Our Public Schools: What You Need to Do Now by dianerav The Campaign for Our Public Schools was a spontaneous effort to gather the candid views of educators, parents, students, and concerned citizens about the state of public education policy today. On October 3, everyone reading this blog was invited to write a letter to President Obama expressing their ideas. In a brief, two-week period, nearly 400 letters were submitted. There were many that were eloquent, many that were heartfelt, many wr...more »

Microsoft gives $50,000 more to Washington charter school initiative: Microsoft gives $50,000 more to Washington charter school initiative Posted by Valerie Strauss on October 20, 2012 at 10:38 am - [image: Smaller Text] [image: Larger Text] Text Size - Print - Reprints - Share: - - - More » (Jeffrey MacMillan/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) Microsoft founder Bill Gates has personally forked over several million dollars to support a charter school referendum on the Washington state ballot in November – and now, Microsoft Corp. just upped its donation. The company ...more »

Mitt Romney’s No Excuses School | EduShyster: Mitt Romney’s No Excuses School by edushyster2012 Cranbrook, the private boarding school attended by Mitt Romney, is a ‘No Excuses’ school, which is why Mr. Romney has such remarkable posture. Haters are constantly dawging on Mitt Romney for being quite possibly the whitest person who has ever lived. But it might surprise you to know that despite his mom jeans and the robotic arm movements, Willard Mitt Romney actually has a lot of *flava*. You see, Mr. Romney attended a No Excuses school very similar to the ones that are popping up in A...more »

Ed Notes Online: Today: Julie Cavanagh (MORE) and Xian Barrett (CORE) Lessons of the Chicago Teachers’ Strike: Today: Julie Cavanagh (MORE) and Xian Barrett (CORE) Lessons of the Chicago Teachers’ Strike by ed notes online Don't miss the chance to see Julie and Xian today. I met both of them in the summer of 2009, Xian in Los Angeles at a 5-city gathering of union activists where Xian and 5 others came from Chicago's CORE and Julie here at the first meeting of GEM and CAPE. I don't have to tell ed notes readers about Julie. Even if you can't make it, check out these 2 videos I shot...more »

Are America’s Schools Breeding Grounds for Compliant Citizens? | toteachornototeach: Are America’s Schools Breeding Grounds for Compliant Citizens? by aristotlethewise *Are America’s Schools Breeding Grounds for Compliant Citizens? * by John W. Whitehead “*[P]ublic school reform is now justified in the dehumanizing language of national security, which increasingly legitimates the transformation of schools into adjuncts of the surveillance and police state… students are increasingly subjected to disciplinary apparatuses which limit their capacity for critical thinking, mold them into...more »

Daily Kos: an oddity noted at Nate Silver's blog: an oddity noted at Nate Silver's blog by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) and you can see it without having to use up any of your 10/mo quota on the Times website simply go to his site If you scroll down, looking on the right, besides his projections of EVs national, and percentages nationally and before you get to probabiities by state you will arrve at a chart called Electoral Vote Distribution which shows the most frequently occurring totals of electoral votes when he runs his simulations.. IF I am reading it correctly, it seems the...more »

Reframing Shame: How and When Blame for Student Low Achievement Shifted | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Reframing Shame: How and When Blame for Student Low Achievement Shifted by larrycuban The shame that many teachers and principals feel at being made responsible for a school’s low academic performance is a recent phenomenon. Historically, policy elites and educators explained poor academic performance of groups and individual students by pointing to ethnic and racial discrimination, poverty, immigrants’ cultures, family deficits, and students’ lack of effo...more »

Jersey Jazzman: It's NOT Just Newark's Contract: It's NOT Just Newark's Contract by Duke *Merit Pay Fairy?* Newark's teachers union has come to an agreement with the district on a contract. The contract still needs to be ratified by the members in a meeting on Monday, 10/29/12. The contract includes a merit pay program, funded by a combination of private and public monies. Let's lay out a few facts: - New Jersey has one of the highest-performing statewide school systems in the country. I would argue that we could make a good case for being the best performing state in the nation...more »

Pass / Fail : Parent Trigger group votes on new group for charter take over | 89.3 KPCC: Parent Trigger group votes on new group for charter take over by By Vanessa Romo [image: Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991] The first group of parents in the nation to successfully invoke California’s Parent Trigger law has voted on a new operator to take over a failing school: LaVerne Elementary Preparatory Academy, a non-profit charter organization based in nearby Hesperia, will run the new school starting next August. After 18 months and two court victories, members of the D...more »

School lunch news: California poll, Kansas high school video, and praise for OUSD - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools: School lunch news: California poll, Kansas high school video, and praise for OUSD Friday, October 19th, 2012 at 3:37 pm in No Comments *Photo by Jane Tyska/Staff* A recent statewide poll released by The California Endowment, a health foundation that promotes nutritious school lunches, found that 82 percent of students and 91 percent of parents surveyed support the latest changes in school lunch nutrition standards, overall. The changes in...more »

One Teacher's Perspective: Soul-Friendly Capitalism: Soul-Friendly Capitalism by Imagine Wisconsin *This past week, an old friend and one of my former professors celebrated his 50th Jubilee as a Franciscan priest. Much of my recent critique on Paul Ryan's economic philosophy derives from Fr. Joe Zimmerman's compassionate reasoning. Zimmerman agreed to let me repost his fine essay on soul-friendly capitalism, which is also published in Zimmerman's blog, Ivy Rosary.* Soul is story. My soul is my story, with its sorrows and its joys. Soul-less capitalism has no concern for the stori...more »

Struggling with educators’ lack of technology fluency | Dangerously Irrelevant: Struggling with educators’ lack of technology fluency by dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com (Scott McLeod) [image: Confused] It’s 2012. Technology suffuses everything around us. The Internet and Internet browsers have been pretty mainstream for at least a decade. And yet, I continually run into significant numbers of educators who still don’t know how to work their Internet browser. They struggle with copying and pasting. They get confused just clicking between 2 or 3 different browser tabs. They don’t conceptual...more »

Top Content this Week - The Educator's PLN: 1[image: How has technology in your classroom impact student learning and achievement?]How has technology in your classroom impact student learning and achievement? Posted by David Petrick on October 3, 2012 2[image: Digital Disconnect: The Gap Between Students and Their Schools]Digital Disconnect: The Gap Between Students and Their Schools Posted by Sasha Reese on October 11, 2012 3[image: Technology educational affordance: Bridging the gap between patterns of interaction and technology usage]Technology educational affordance: Bridging t...more »

*4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:* *4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit* TAILORING THE TESTS TO SPECIAL NEEDS: QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT ADAPTIVE ASSESSMENTS …and feedback from an LAUSD special needs parent smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago By Michelle R. Davis, EdWeek Vol. 06, Issue 01, Pages 14-15 | http://bit.ly/TyZS44 October 17, 2012 :: Computer-adaptive testing, in theory, should allow educators to pinpoint more accurately the achievement levels of students with disabilities, to focus on areas where those students need help. De...more »

Education Research Report: *THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT* * * “Dual enrollment” students more likely to attend, graduate from college Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 21 hours ago High school students who take college courses are significantly more likely to attend and graduate from college than peers who do not, according to a study of more than 30,000 Texas high school graduates by Boston-based education nonprofit Jobs for the Future (JFF). JFF’s study, Taking College Courses in High School: A Strategy for College Readiness, tracked 32,908 students who g...more »

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL *Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day* [image: Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Problems.] “Small Minority of Parents at “Trigger” School Choose Charter Operator” Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 6 hours ago Small Minority of Parents at “Trigger” School Choose Charter Operator is a post at Diane Ravitch’s blog. It describes the latest sad development in parent trigger efforts in California. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Learning Why The Paren...more »

Nikhil Goyal, 17: the future education secretary? - Virginia Schools Insider - The Washington Post: Nikhil Goyal, 17: the future education secretary? By T. Rees Shapiro The other morning I had coffee with Fairfax County School Board member Elizabeth Schultz, who represents the Springfield district. Shultz said she wants to address some of the school system’s biggest problems head on, even if it means having to turn the system upside down. When I sat down with her she was reading a book with an intriguing title:“One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School,” by Nikh...more »

L.A. Times Wants To Publicly Rank 14,000 More Teachers | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…: L.A. Times Wants To Publicly Rank 14,000 More Teachers by Larry Ferlazzo Editors at The Los Angeles Times probably need to read The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures, since they don’t appear to be very good at it. Despite having their methodology and their actions roundly criticized by….well, just about everybody you can think of….after publishing teacher ranking previously (see The Best Posts About The LA Times Article On “Value-Added” Teacher Ratin...more »

A child with autism shines with Katy Perry’s help | Get Schooled: A child with autism shines with Katy Perry’s help 7:05 pm October 19, 2012, by Maureen Downey My AJC colleague Jay Bookman ends the week with a music video. I want to follow his example today as I think this music video also delivers a message about the power of education to improve kids’ lives. (And it also speaks to the character of singer Katy Perry.) - ShareThis - Print

What Government Does for You | Alternet: What Government Does for You When government works effectively, it becomes an invisible part of everyday life and people start to take it for granted. *October 17, 2012* | “Government, keep your hands off my Medicare!” Commentators and comedians alike had fun with the cognitive dissonance represented by the statement above, found on more than one hand-scrawled sign at Tea Party rallies. But while opposition to government is more at home on the political right, ignorance about the role of government is a bipartisan malady. [Video drawn fro...more »